Proceedings Paper

3D photonic lattices are engineered 'materials' which are the photonic analogues of semiconductors. These structures were first proposed and demonstrated in the mid-to-late 1980's. However, due to fabrication difficulties, lattices active in the IR are only just emerging. A variety of structures and fabrication approaches have been investigated. The most promising approach for many potential applications is a diamond-like structure fabricated using silicon microprocessing techniques. This approach has enabled the fabrication of 3D silicon photonic lattices active in the IR. The structures display bandgaps centered from 12(mu) down to 1.55(mu) , depending on pitch.